


The Week Before Christmas.

by VincentZN



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Best Friends, Boys In Love, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Declarations Of Love, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, High School, Humor, Ice Skating, Japanese Character(s), M/M, Romantic Comedy, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-10 00:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8918905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VincentZN/pseuds/VincentZN
Summary: This is a compilation of one-shots based on the Ensemble Stars characters and set in the week before Christmas. Every chapter is an independent story so you can read any of them regardless the other ones. All the main characters appear in one or more stories. All 36.The cast of each one-shot is in the first line of each chapter.





	1. A Christmas with Double Trouble.

[19th December. Monday.] “A Christmas with Double Trouble.”  
[Hinata, Yuuta, Shinobu, Tetora.]

It is said that people change in Christmas, everyone gets warmer and kinder. It’s a season to love and to be loved. But our two favorite twins misunderstood this idea, and overextended their change too much.

It was a peaceful afternoon in the twin’s house, they had already finished their homework and chores. Hinata sat in the sofa, next to his brother, who was staring through a window.

  
“What’s up, Yuuta-kun?” Hinata asked. He took a chocolate bar from a plastic bag and bite it.  
  
“Nothing…” his brother replied.  
  
“Clearly something happened,” Hinata said.  
  
“I’m fine.”  
  
Hinata stared at his brother while he kept on eating the chocolate bar. When he finished it he smiled at Yuuta.  
  
“Don’t be shy little Yuuta-kun,” he hugged his brother and made him smile back.  
  
“It happened again, someone thought that I was you.”  
  
“Oh… So that’s what happened?” Hinata replied while giggling. “Who it was this time?”  
  
“Koga-senpai…” he rolled his eyes.  
  
“… Eh?” Hinata’s eyes were wide open. “Why did you take him seriously? You know he loves to make fun of us. Actually… He’s mean with everyone.”  
  
“But it wasn’t on purpose. He wasn’t trying to be mean or something… It was an actual mistake.”  
  
“So what’s the problem?” Hinata asked. “We are not the same person, everyone knows that.”  
  
“What if they can’t tell us apart? What if they just pretend they can?”  
  
“I’m sure that the ones who matter can tell us apart right away!”Hinata closed his eyes, his hand on his chin, “what if we meet with someone today, and pretend that we are the other? We can test them!”  
  
“Uh… But with who should we meet?”  
  
Hinata extended an arm to his brother, “hand me your phone!” Yuuta raised an eyebrow and searched through his pocket.  
  
“Uhm…”  
  
“Thank you!” Hinata replied, taking the unlocked phone of his twin’s hand. “Let me go through your contact list…”  
  
Yuuta stopped looking at his brother and focused on the floor. He wasn’t worried of what Hinata could find in his phone, they’ve never kept secrets to each other.  
  
“Gotcha!” Hinata exclaimed.  
  
“Huh?” Yuuta glanced at him, only to find his brother calling someone. “Who are you calling?” But his brother ignored him.  
  
“Hello? This is Yuuta-kun!” Hinata said, his voice was deeper.  
  
“Why are you speaking like that? I don’t speak like that. Stop it!” Yuuta said.  
  
Hinata laughed, “I wanted to know if you are going to do something today, maybe we could meet up!”  
  
Yuuta stared at him, his eyes still, his mouth shut.  
  
“Oh… I see… And would you mind if my brother Hinata and I hang out with you two?” Hinata said. “That would be great! We can be there in… like an hour?” He looked at his brother, who shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah! Confirmed. See you in an hour.”  
  
Hinata smiling returned the phone to his twin and went to the kitchen to find something to eat before leaving.  
  
“Tell me… Who did you call?” Yuuta asked.  
  
Walking towards his brother, Hinata leaned to him, tilted his head, and with a smirk on his face, he answered, “why don’t you check it? It’s your phone after all, Yuuta-kun,” he disappeared from the living room while giggling. “This is going to be so much fun!”  
  
Unlocking his phone was tricky when his hands trembled. He was fine lying to anyone for an elaborated prank… To anyone but…  
  
“Shinobu-kun…”

 

On the other end of the line, Shinobu sat comfortably in a couch of a coffee shop with his friend Tetora. When he hung up the phone he crossed his arms and after a moment of hesitation he shook his head.

“So… are the twins coming along?”  
  
“Yes, Yuuta-kun wanted to do something today and I invited him and his brother over, are you fine with it?” Shinobu replied.  
  
“Osu!” Tetora nodded, smiling.  
  
Shinobu grabbed his tea and drank from it faster than before.  
  
“Is… everything fine?” Tetora asked. “You are drinking way too fast!”  
  
“Yes… I don’t want to disturb you with my problems,” he replied.  
  
“Shi-no-bu!” Tetora chanted. “Don’t be that silly… I’m your friend!”  
  
The music in the coffee shop stopped for an instant and another song played, it was a Christmas version of a popular pop song. People were gathering in line in the counter to order their drinks. As the temperature decreased outside, the interior got busier.  
  
“It’s about… Yuuta-kun d-de gozaru,” he said, stuttering on the final of his sentence.  
  
“What’s the matter with him? Don’t you want him to come?”  
  
“No…” he blushed. “I mean, it’s not that. I wanted to meet with him but… you know. Alone?”  
  
Tetora pointed at the door with energy, “I can leave if you want.”  
  
“No! I had plans with you today and… Hinata-kun is coming too… So I wouldn’t be alone with Yuuta-kun anyway.”  
  
“Why are you acting so weird?” Tetora asked, he was trying not to laugh. Shinobu was never like that.  
  
“I wanted to ask Yuuta-kun out…” his face turned even more red. “I mean. Like. I want to go to see the Christmas decorations with him and… all of that…”  
  
Tetora crossed his arms and nodded, his smile was so big that even his little fang was showing. “I’ll try to get you some time alone with Yuuta-kun to ask him out. I can distract Hinata-kun!”

 

“Do you like my outfit?” Hinata spin in front of his brother, still in their living room.  
  
“That’s my favorite T-shirt!”  
  
“So that’s a yes?” Hinata laughed.  
  
“Should I wear something yours too?” Yuuta asked.  
  
“Sure. We have to make them believe that you are me and I am you”  
  
“That sounds overly complicated,” Yuuta replied.  
  
“Just go! We are going to be late!”  
  
Yuuta walked towards the stairs to his room, “wait, before we go… Aniki, what’s the plan again?”  
  
“I am you, you are me. I talk with Shinobu pretending I am you. You talk with Tetora pretending you are me. It’s easy.”

 

“Are you nervous?” Tetora asked his friend.  
  
“Huh… A little bit, de gozaru…”  
  
“They are going to be here in a moment, and when that happens I’ll go with Hinata to order more drinks. That’s your chance to be alone with Yuuta.”  
  
Shinobu nodded, in silence. His heart beat faster when the twins entered the coffee shop. Tetora waved at them.  
  
“Here!” he exclaimed.  
  
“Hi guys!” Hinata said. Before getting to the table he looked at his brother and whispered, “remember that you are Hinata and I am Yuuta…”  
  
Hinata sat next to Shinobu in the couch. Shinobu stared at him, almost squinting.  
  
“What’s the matter, Shinobu-kun?”  
  
“N-Nothing,” he stuttered.  
  
“Hey, Hinata-kun, do you already know what are you going to order?” Hinata asked to his brother.  
  
“I don’t Ani… Yuuta-kun. I need to check the menu,” he replied.  
  
“Do you want to come with me to the counter?” Tetora asked Yuuta, who he believed was Hinata.  
  
“Sure. What do you want, Yuuta-kun?” Yuuta said.  
  
“Bring me something sweet!” Hinata replied. “Thank you!” He was cheerful and happy.  
  
“Can I have another tea?” Shinobu asked Tetora.  
  
“Of course!” He stood up. “Let’s go Hinata!”  
  
Hinata glanced at Tetora, he couldn’t resist his habit to reacting to his own name. Yuuta stood up next to Tetora and went to the line. Shinobu stayed quiet in the couch, he rubbed his hands. Talking felt difficult for him. Hinata’s knee touched Shinobu’s, and he was about to tremble.  
  
“So… How was your day?” Hinata said.  
  
“Fine… You know… I was here. And now you are here. And now you are talking.”  
  
Hinata smirked. He liked pranking people way too much, and Shinobu seemed vulnerable and innocent.  
  
“Look at me!” Hinata exclaimed. He looked at Shinobu’s eye. Hinata rested his hand in Shinobu’s lap, he was kind of scared of the sudden movement. Hinata put his thumb on his own lip and winked a couple of times. “Shinobu-kun… Do you like me?”  
  
Shinobu rolled his eyes and moved from Hinata, who couldn’t believe his friend’s reaction.  
  
“No.”  
  
“W-What?”  
  
“I don’t like you. The person who I like is… Yuuta-kun.”  
  
Hinata closed his eyes and chuckled. Then he shook his head in approval.  
  
“When did you notice?”  
  
“In the first call…” Shinobu replied. “You didn’t sound like Yuuta. When you got here you called him Hinata and not Aniki. He actually was going to call you aniki but stopped in mid-sentence. And also… You asked for a sweet drink? Not my Yuuta, de gozaru.”  
  
Hinata burst out laughing, “Yuuta is in great hands with you. I’m sure you are going to make him very happy!”  
  
Shinobu blushed at Hinata’s comment.  
  
“Hey, we have your drinks!” Tetora said, he was carrying two, and Yuuta the other two.  
  
“Yuuta! Shinobu knew I was you!” Hinata yelled at his brother.  
  
“Shinobu…” Yuuta’s eyes sparkled.  
  
“I told you the ones who matter the most can tell us apart!”  
  
“Wait… What?” Tetora said, with his eyebrows raised. “You are Yuuta? No. Wait. You are Hinata?”  
  
The three of them laughed while Tetora was pointing at everyone.  
  
“Am I Shinobu? Is this the real me?” He said.  
  
And between the laughs and smiles, Yuuta and Shinobu shared a long stare, and they knew that this time it was true.


	2. The Real Gift.

[20th December. Tuesday] “The Real Gift.”  
[Kanata, Chiaki.]

  
Presents are a part of Christmas, everybody knows that. They can be an easy way to say to your friends that you love them and care about them. But, is receiving presents better than giving them out?  
  
Chiaki was amazed by the lights of the street, Kanata walked by his side, smiling. Every shop in the main street was decorated with care. Flowers and posters hanging in the walls. Above their heads some complicated figures made out of lights hung: hearts, stars, and even bells. Chiaki and Kanata were surrounded by people, there wasn’t any space to move with freedom, so they just walked along with the crowd.  
  
“So… what are we going to buy for them?” Kanata asked. Chiaki couldn’t hear him, so he continued walking. “Puka… puka…”  
  
Between some people, Kanata found a toy store and grabbed Chiaki by his shoulder. Chiaki stopped, raising an eyebrow, and looked at him, he just pointed to the store. Chiaki nodded and smiled.  
  
“It was so loud in the street I couldn’t hear you at all!” He exclaimed. The store was barely empty.  
  
“I think…” Kanata rolled his eyes slowly. “We can find something… here. You know… for them.”  
  
“Sure! There are plenty of toys here!”  
  
They walked to the first aisle, which was full of board games.  
  
“Mmm… I’m not sure they would like those,” Chiaki said.  
  
“What about this…?” Kanata said. He was holding a box with drawings of frogs.  
  
“Oh! What it’s about?”  
  
“I think… It’s like… Um. And game in which you move frogs around the board. And there are some questions or challenges in each part of the board…”  
  
Chaiki squinted, “do you think he would like it?”  
  
“I mean… it has frogs…”  
  
“It has frogs, indeed. Let’s take it!”  
  
They walked through the doll’s aisle but nothing was interesting. The same happened with the sports aisle.  
  
“What could we get for him?” Chiaki asked. Kanata stared at him.  
  
“It’s difficult this time…”  
  
“What does he like?”  
  
“He likes… You know… He likes his taichou…” Kanata replied.  
  
“Uh! I wish someone admired me as much as he admires his taichou.”  
  
“We do… Puka, puka… What is a bank of fish without their leader?”  
  
Chiaki wasn’t sure if being the leader of a fish bank was good or not. He just crossed his arms and looked back to the shelves.  
  
“Maybe we could get him… A new hobby… Fishes constantly change their pace when the currents change… They are prepared to go with the flow and adapt to every kind of water. He can find him a new water to swim in…”  
  
Chiaki stared at him silent for some seconds and burst out laughing. “That’s a good excuse, Kanata!”  
  
“Puka… puka…” he went away being as quiet as he could.  
  
Chaiki followed him and pointed at the shelves of handcraft materials and tools. “Maybe he can get interested in handcrafts? His taichou likes to sew and he has made a lot of outfits. Maybe we can gift him a sewing set or something?”  
  
“Maybe he can make my sea friends a new outfit…”  
  
“Do you mean like a curtain for the fish tanks or something?” Chiaki said.  
  
“No… My sea friends like to wear cute outfits…”  
  
Chiaki took a sewing set from the shelf and moved on to another aisle. When Kanata got to his side he was scratching his head with his eyes closed.  
  
“This is going to be difficult!” he said.  
  
“I don’t think so…” Kanata replied.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Look at how many… mascots plushes are in the shelves over there…” Kanata grabbed Chiaki’s hand and took him to the plushes shelves.  
  
“Ohohoho!” Chiaki yelled, laughing.  
  
Kanata smiled while looking for the perfect mascot.  
  
“Which are his favorites?” Chiaki asked  
  
“You know… the cute ones…”  
  
“Cute like this?” Chiaki was holding an ogre plush.  
  
“I don’t think that’s a cute one… Chiaki…”  
  
He blushed and crossed his arms.  
  
“Maybe this one?” Kanata took a tortoise plush and showed it to Chiaki.  
  
“Uhm. Is he interested in sea animals?”  
  
Kanata squinted at him, “who isn’t?” He put it in the cart with the other presents.  
  
Chiaki stood in the same place, for a moment, before realizing Kanata had already left and decided what they were getting. He sighed and followed him.  
  
Kanata was paying for the gifts in the counter.  
  
“Wait!” Chiaki said. “We have to split it up.”  
  
“Puka… puka…”  
  
After they paid they went back to the street, which was once again crowded.  
  
“Chiaki…” Kanata said as loud as he could. “Wait for me…”  
  
Chiaki smiled at him and held his hand. “I don’t want to lose you!” He yelled.  
  
“Uh…”  
  
“You can easily get lost among all this people!” he said, holding Kanata’s hand tightly. Kanata just nodded and smiled.  
  
They managed to get out of the main street and sat in a bench near the gates of a park.  
  
“It’s so dark already…” Kanata said.  
  
“Yeah, it’s not so late actually. It gets dark really soon now…”  
  
“But the brightest jellyfishes only shine in the dark.”  
  
“Yeah… Sure…”  
  
Kanata noticed a change in Chiaki’s tone.  
  
“Are you… okay?”  
  
“I was just wondering if they will like the presents we got,” he said.  
  
“Of course they will…”  
  
“How are you so sure?  
  
“What do you think the presents mean to them?”  
  
“What? The presents are just presents. Toys, stuff… Either you like it or not.”  
  
“That’s not how presents work… Silly Chiaki,” Kanata smiled at him and Chiaki stared at his smile. “You don’t like a present for itself, you like a present because you love the person that gave you the present. And they… We… Love you.”  
  
Chiaki kept quiet.  
  
“We love you not only because you are our leader. We love you because you… You got us together. We were like lost fishes… Lost fishes swimming alone in open sea… But you found all of us and fixed us… We were rejected, broken, alone, or depressed… But you gathered us together and created Ryuseitai… That’s the real gift, you are the real gift.” He leaned towards Chiaki. “Thank you…”  
  
Chiaki hugged him and hid the tears in Kanata’s back.


	3. Karate Club!!! On Ice.

[20th December. Tuesday] “Karate Club!!! On Ice.”  
[Tetora, Kuro].

Tetora was excited when Kuro invited him to go skating. He had never skated before and he loved to try out new sports. And of course, he wanted to impress Kuro.

When Kuro got to the ice skating rink Tetora was already there. He was leaning on a wall and checking his phone.

"Tetsu," Kuro said, standing next to him.  
"Oh!" Tetora looked at him and blinked. "You are early," he said.  
"I'm glad I haven't made you wait too much for me." Kuro smiled.  
Tetora kept quiet.  
"Are we... coming inside?" Kuro asked.  
"Yeah! Of course. Let's go," Tetora went inside the building and he didn't look at Kuro at all.  
Kuro raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. Something seemed wrong with Tetora.

"Good evening, what do you need today?" the woman in the counter asked.  
"We need tickets and skating boots for two," Kuro said.  
Tetora checked his phone again. Kuro went back with a pair of boots and the tickets. Kuro stood up in front of him, but he didn't notice him, he just stared at his phone.  
Kuro coughed. He managed to get Tetora's attention.  
"You have the things already," he replied.  
"Yeah..."  
  
They walked to the nearest changing room and locked their shoes and other items in a locker. Tetora looked at his phone and took a deep breath, he had to leave it behind too.  
"Why are you so hooked to your phone?"  
"I was just texting."  
"Who?"  
"It's not important," Tetora rolled his eyes.  
"Huh..."  
"It was just Shinobu-kun," he replied.  
"Are you waiting for an important text? Is Shinobu-kun in danger or something?"  
"Oh... It's not important. He's fine."  
"If everything is fine, just leave your phone in the locker and let's go skating, Tetsu."  
He did.

Heading to the ice, Tetora's hands trembled. He just stared at the void. He couldn't focus his eyes on anything.  
"Are you okay?"  
"Uh? What?"  
"You are shaking," Kuro said.  
"It's nothing. I'm just... cold."  
Kuro stopped walking and stood in front of him. Tetora raised his eyes to look at him.  
"Here..." Kuro took Tetora's hands with care between his hands. "My hands are usually warm, and I don't want you to have a bad time because of the temperature. I can hold your hands as long as you want".  
Tetora's face turned red and he rolled his eyes. He nodded. They stopped holding hands and got on the ice.

Tetora looked like a baby deer trying to keep in balance. He was right next to the walls and his legs were shaking. Kuro was moving rather fast next to him.  
"Come with me," he said smiling. "It's easy if you try!"  
"It's not that easy..."

Kuro kept looking at Tetora, how he was struggling on the ice. He thought that maybe skating was not a good idea. What would be Tetora afraid of? Maybe he was afraid of falling? Or maybe he didn't want to hurt himself? But no one learns to sake without at least trying... The best way to learn something new is to make a lot of mistakes. Making mistakes is not something bad or embarassing.

He moved towards Tetora and attempted to jump, he ended up tripping over and falling.

"Taichou! Are you okay?" Tetora left the wall and moved right next to Kuro. He was still on the floor.

"It doesn't hurt that much!" he said, laughing. "I'm fine. I never tried to jump before, but I want to learn." He stood up. "If you want to learn something new you have to try and make mistakes."

Tetora rolled his eyes. "Did you just fall on purpose?"  
"No! I can't jump... Yet."  
"I know I haven't left the walls yet, I need to take my time to get used to the ice. Don't do this kind of things just to inspire me... You can get hurt..."  
"But... It worked!"  
"Huh?"  
"You left the walls! You skated, and you did that alone," Kuro said, smiling.  
"Woah! That's true."  
"Do you think you can skate by my side? You already took the first steps... I believe in you."  
"T-Taichou! I pushed myself because I was worried you were hurt or something... I wanted to help." He blushed.  
Kuro laughed. "I'm glad I have you looking over me."  
  
He moved away from Tetora. "Can you skate towards me? I'll be here if you fall. I'm going to be looking over you too."  
"I can try..." he moved one leg. He hesitated. He took a deep breath and moved the other leg. He did that a couple more times until he was moving, very slow but without stopping. His goal were Kuro's arms, that were waiting for him.  
"You're almost here!" Kuro exclaimed. "You can do this!" He extended one arm to him.  
Tetora moved faster and took his hand.  
"You did it!"  
"Thank you..."  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked. "You were acting different before... Different than usual."  
"Do you really want to know the truth?"  
"Of course."  
Tetora moved to the wall and leaned on it. Kuro followed him.  
  
"I was nervous because I've never skated before..."  
"I thought you were worried about falling or getting hurt."  
"That's not actually the reason... I didn't want to disappoint you."  
"Eh?" Kuro crossed his arms.  
"That's why I was texting Shinobu before. I was telling him how nervous I was to do something awkward in front of you. I always work hard so I don't let you down."  
Kuro laughed. "You would never leave me down. Never! No matter what you do or what happens. Tetsu."  
  
Tetora stared at him, he didn't know what to say.  
"I was actually worried there was something wrong. I'm glad you told me what were you going through. But there's no need to feel that way. We are on the same team, you don't need to do impressive things in front of me. I already like you. And I invited you here knowing that you didn't know how to skate, I wasn't expecting you to be an expert or something. But I admire you because you always try your best. You are energetic and honest, that's what I like the most of you. That's why I was worried, you seemed different today."  
  
"I'm cold," Tetora said. "But not only my hands..."  
Kuro smiled and hugged him. "Are you warmer now?"  
"M-Much more," he said. "I've brought some snacks... Do you want to eat something?"  
"Did you cook them?"  
"Yeah..."  
"We can keep hugging instead."  
"Taichou... They are not toxic today."  
"Let's give them a try, you must have worked hard on them."

 


	4. This is not fine.

[20th December. Tuesday] “This is not fine.”   
[Tori, Eichi, Keito, Mao, Yuzuru.]

The student council gathered in their room, Eichi stared at the sunset smiling, Mao was texting in his phone, Keito was going through a pile of books, he scratched his head with energy, and Tori was shouting at Yuzuru.   
“We need to finish with this papers,” Keito said. “Eichi, can you help me? I need some data from the computer.”  
Eichi ignored him. He heard him but decided to not reply.  
“I called you to help the Vice-president!” Tori yelled across the room. “Why aren’t you working?”  
“I’m sorry, Young Master,” Yuzuru apologized. “I don’t usually work with the student council, so I don’t have the knowledge to help the Vice-president.”  
“Learn!” Tori yelled. He sat in a sofa. “But first, can you bring me a tea?”  
Yuzuru nodded.

“Isara?” Keito looked at Mao, who was staring at his phone. “Could you find the file 43 in the blue folder?” There were several folders in a shelf right next to Mao.  
“I’m on it,” he replied. He wasn’t on it.  
“Eichi?” Keito insisted. “Eichi, can you help us?”   
He decided to reply.  
“Why are you so stressed?” he said.  
“What? Are you serious? The year is about to end and we need to keep track of the budget we used this year. We can’t go on holidays and forget about this. Imagine that we are giving a big budget to a club that it’s not worth it. We should cut down the budget on all the clubs that are not using it. We also need to arrange the files we used over the year. And prepare the new budgets for the next months and the new dreamfests and lives and…”  
“Whoa… take it easy. Breath in… Breath out,” Eichi said. “Don’t get that stressed or you’ll get wrinkles all over your face,” he said, smiling. Keito glared at him.

“And let’s not forget about the mole,” Tori joined the conversation.  
“Oh. That’s another problem we shouldn’t ignore,” Keito said.  
“What mole?” Eichi raised an eyebrow.  
Keito covered his eyes with his hands. “Have you forgot about it?”   
Eichi giggled. “Sorry.”  
“Do you know about that group that wants to overthrow the student council, right?” Keito asked. While he spoke he was looking through notebooks. “We got some information that there’s someone closer to the student council who works with this group. We don’t know if it’s a member of the council or if it’s someone close to us.”   
“It’s Yuzuru-kun,” Eichi said.  
“What?” Tori crossed his arms. “He’s not. I don’t think he’s capable of that. In order to be a mole you need to be intelligent and skilled.”  
Someone knocked at the door.   
“It must be him,” he added.  
“Can I come in?” Yuzuru said.   
“I’m waiting for my tea!” Tori replied. He sat on the sofa again.  
Yuzuru come inside the room, he was wearing a Christmas hat and he brought the tea in a mug with cartoon reindeers.   
“Young Master, it’s Christmas! If you work too hard you’ll miss the happiness of the holidays.”   
“Just give me the tea and go help the Vice-President. And take off the hat,” he ordered. Yuzuru did as he say. He looked at the floor, dragged his feet, and sat next to Keito with a smile that asked for a hug.   
Eichi sat in the table with Keito and Yuzuru, he pretended he was looking at the notebooks. In fact, he was thinking about flowers and beautiful gardens. He nodded occasionally to pretend he was listening to Keito and Yuzuru going over the files.

“Vice-president,” Mao said. “The file 43 is missing.”   
“What?” Keito jumped from his chair and went straight to check the folder. He looked through it, his knee was bouncing, his heart was beating faster. The folder fell into the ground, all the files inside of it were scattered through the floor. “Why is this happening?”   
Mao smirked, he seemed to enjoy Keito’s despair.

Tori laughed, he was looking at his phone and ignoring everyone else. Keito was too stressed to notice Tori.   
“Happy Christmas,” he whispered.  
Yuzuru ran to help Keito, he took the papers from the floor and put them inside the folder.  
“There’s no track of the file 43,” Yuzuru said.  
“What’s in that file, anyway?” Eichi asked.  
“If I remember correctly there was information about some unit,” Keito said. He walked to the table. “Files 40 to 50 have information about the activities of the units.”   
“And what unit was on that file?” Yuzuru asked.  
“I don’t remember! We have way too many files in this room,” Keito replied.

Mao looked at his phone, he had several texts from Subaru. But that wasn’t the best moment to answer them.  
“Let’s take a deep breath,” Keito said. “If we stay here until night I think we can finish the work today.”   
“Eeeh?” Tori said. “I don’t want to.”   
“We have to, Himemiya.”  
“Okay… I’m glad Yuzuru is here to take me home later.”   
Eichi stared through the windows again. “We are going to see the sunset together.”   
“Would you mind if I go to the bathroom? I’ll be right back in a second,” Mao said.  
“Don’t be late,” Keito replied.

“Yes. I got the file,” Mao was talking on the phone. “The file 43, Subaru. The one that has all Trickstar’s records. No. I don’t think it’s too important. But it works nicely to confuse them. No one suspects I’m the mole.”

 


	5. We are never running out of love.

[21st December, Wednesday]. "We are never running out of love."  
[Arashi, Adonis, Mitsuru].

The Field and Track club was in a busy street. The crowd stayed in the pavement, and hundreds of runners were waiting under the goal sign.  
"Adonis-chan-senpai!" Mitsuru shouted. His senpai smiled at him.  
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked, patting his head.  
"Of course!" Mitsuru closed his eyes and threw his arms in the air.  
Arashi looked at them and chuckled.  
"The aim of this race is to get donations for children in need, they deserve to have a happy christmas too. So... Mitsuru-chan, do your best!"  
Mitsuru giggled. "I hope Arashi-chan-senpai and Adonis-chan-senpai do their best too!"

The street became silent, the race was about to start. Everyone was on their mark. Adonis smiled at Mitsuru and Arashi winked.  
"Let's do this!" Mitsuru exclaimed.

Before he could finish his sentence, everyone in front of him was already running. Arashi got in the first positions as soon as he could.  
Mitsuru didn't want to be left behind. He ran behind Adonis, trying to keep his pace.  
"I need to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. That's how it's done," he thought.  
The decorations of the race were mixed with christmas decorations. In fact, the landmarks of the race were christmas-themed.  
Arashi had already passed through the christmas tree. That was the first big landmark they were going to encounter.  
Mitsuru has doing okay keeping with Adonis pace, "I wonder why he's going so slow... I know he could win this race."

"This is the first... one," Adonis turned back and spoke to Mitsuru while running. "There are three." Mitsuru nodded, he couldn't speak while running.  
"Only two more..." He thought.

"My friends are meeting today... I actually wanted to go. I wonder if they are having fun. I hope so..." He was getting distracted and he almost tripped over.  
"Uwah!" he shouted.  
"A-Are you okay?" Adonis turned back to check on him. "Did you fall?"  
"A-Al... Almost!"  
"If you are tired... you can... rest."  
  
He was fine but he couldn't say he was fine because he needed to breathe.  
  
Several children were in the pavement cheering for the runners. Maybe they were the children in need. Who knows. For Mitsuru it was an inspiration.  
The race was part of a bigger event, some people was going to sell baked goods, others were going to sell handmade accessories or toys. And everything was going to be donated to Christmas Smiles, the organization that delivers presents for children that have nothing. The race was sponsored by several sport clothing companies and for each ten people that finished the race they were giving supplies and money for the event.  
  
As they approached the second landmark, a big ballon of Santa Claus, Adonis increased his pace.  
"He's going faster?" Mitsuru also went faster. He was decided to finish with his senpai.

He stopped, and put the hands in his knees. With his back bent. He was panting.

"Adonis-chan-senpai..." he whispered. He couldn't speak louder. But his senpai kept going, without even noticing him. "W-Wait..."  
He took a deep breath and ran again.  
And he ran. He passed under the balloon, but Adonis was farther. He seemed unreachable. Each step that Mitsuru took, were three steps for Adonis.

He didn't know were Arashi was, and he was losing track of Adonis. He wasn't the last, there were several runners behind him. However, he didn't care about the other runners, the only thing he wanted to do was to finish with his friends.

"I've only been with them for less than a year... I'm small. I'm not as strong as them... But I'm also a part of this club. And I want to be in the same level as them. It's so painful to..."  
He couldn't stop that train of thought. Some tears ran down his face. But he never stopped running.  
"It's so painful to not be as good as them... It's so painful that even though I give my best everyday it changes nothing. Both of them are far superior than me and I'm just..."

As he ran slower some other runners passed right next to him. "Will they think I'm a dissappointment?"

The third landmark, a shop decorated with lights, was around the corner. There were bottles of water for the runners. Mitsuru stopped and grabbed a bottle, and drank it whole. Other people just took the bottle and kept running, but he was exhausted.

"Maybe they are already in the goal..."  
  
He couldn't run anymore so he just walked towards the goal. That was it, he did what he could. And maybe that race was too much for him.

"Mitsuru-kun!" Arashi was running towards him. Adonis was behind.  
"Eh?" He couldn't believe it. "Arashi-chan-senpai...?"  
"He told me you were having a bad time..." he said, pointing at Adonis.  
"But..." Mitsuru tried to say.  
"I ran faster to go look for him, he was about to cross the goal," Adonis explained.  
"I'm glad he stopped me. I truly want to cross that line with you two!" Arashi said.  
"You... guys! You could've won..." Mitsuru jumped to their arms. And they hugged him. "Thank you so much!"  
"Can you run to the goal with us?" Arashi said.  
Mitsuru smiled and nodded.

Adonis and Arashi took each of Mitsuru's hands and they run together to the finishing line.

"Let's get some food later," Adonis said.  
"You're always thinking about food," Mitsuru replied, giggling.  
"Let's have some sweets," Arashi said.  
"I want hot chocolate!" Mitsuru exclaimed.


End file.
